Damn Carthaginians! They escaped yet again and are now in Tauromenium again. With a double-move to Tauromenium and back to Syracuse I hope I will finally be able to catch them.
Otherwise, nothing to report. Pyrrhus will have to move back to Metapontum over the Winter because of supply issues.

Turn 46: 277 BC, December

Italy and Sicily is covered with snow and it the next months should be relatively quiet.
The Carthaginians have been defeated in yet another battle:
Only about 2000 remaining... I know that they are in Syracuse right now even if I can not see them. How do I know? Very simple, because the Syracuse garrison spawned! Interesting that they spawn even when there is no siege...

Turn 47: 277 BC, January

It's slowly getting annoying! The Carthaginians escaped to Tauromenium yet again.
The Romans have started raiding my merchants again:
I certainly won't waste my ships by driving through those storms just to save some merchants.
Frankly the merchants don't matter so much anyway. When they get destroyed I lose EP and the Romans gain EP – but I think neither of us really need EP right now anyway, I have 27 and nothing to use them for! And merchant ships give some money from time to time, but it's really nothing decisive. Our 10 remaining trade ships in Mare Ionium just delievered 4 Denarii. Yeah, can't get nothing for 4 Denarii.
At the same time I got the as it seems yearly "Commitment for Italian Supremacy" event giving me 200 Denarii and 10 EP.

Carthage has been defeated. Again.
Are they.. are they gone now? Propably not, but I don't see them on the map and neither do I see any garrison spawned as it would if they besieged something. Well, they are no threat anyway.
Ptolemeos has 59/60 experience needed for levelling up now. Some luck!
From all the walking, the army is low on cohesion and lost some strength. In March, I hope to finally march against the Carthaginian army in Acragas!

Meanwhile, the Romans have assaulted Venusia. Again.
I won't counter-attack yet. For one, Pyrrhus is unactivated and I want him to be in perfect condition for the attack. His army is also doesn't have the maximum amount of supplies yet but will have next turn. And also, note the defensive skill of 4 of Publius Cornelius Rufinus. I'd rather attack someone who sucks at defending. And next month the Consuls will be replaced, maybe I will be lucky...
There's less than two years war left now. The conflict has been ongoing for four years already!

Care for some statistics?
(Always Epirus-Rome-Carthage)
National Morale: 102-117-94
(The Romans have a very high national morale that's for sure. Makes it a bit harder to defeat them.)
Victory Points: 842-826-544
(A very small advantage for me. I really need some battle victories to confirm my top place!)
VP gain per turn: 14-20-24
(Yeah, the Romans get a lot more than me now that they took Venusia back. I would get 19 VP/turn if I capture Acragas back. But in the end it will propably be the battles that really decide who will be victorious!)
Losses: 144060-90300-36900
(High losses for the Epirote faction, but the Romans had their fair share of losses as well. These statistics only count battle results however, for example the Carthaginians lost an 80.000 men army mostly to attrition and they are listed as having only 37000 casualties here!)
And one more interesting number: I currently have 23.000 Carthaginian prisoners. Wow! (Not that I scan do anything with them)

Absolutely nothing happened this turn.
Two things will happen next turn:
first, Ptolemeos will move closer to Acragas to prepare for an attack on the Carthaginians there. I hope to defeat them for good in April then, and finally show who rules Sicily!
In Italy, Pyrrhus will counter-attack Venusia. I have thought a while if I should really attack into Wooded Hills terrain, but in the end: I have money, I have a huge army, I have a great commander... I have to do something!
Let's see how good the new consuls are!

Turn 50: 277 BC, April

The deadliest – and maybe decisive – battle of the war so far: the Battle for Venusia! With neither side willing to retreat, this battle was slaughter on both sides! Pyrrhus showed that he has no problems going toe to toe with the Roman might even when they are entrenched in hilly territory but the Romans unfortunately also showed that they are not easy to defeat...
The total losses are 62421 for Pyrrhus' army and 40464 for the Romans. It might look like a very bad statistic for me, but I lost about 65 % of my army and the Romans about 63 % so it is actually rather even.
Even better, if we look at the for gameplay actually more important element losses: they were 41 for Pyrrhus and 49 for the Romans. That's 25 % for Pyrrhus and a staggering 43 % for the Romans! Although it has to be noted of course that first the Romans are propably swimming in cash right now and secondly their replacements are extremely cheap while I will have a lot of trouble replacing mine, I would still regard this as a victory to be proud of!
I take no responsibility for the correctness of the statistics. Pyrrhus is now (4-5-7), which means that honestly... before the Romans attack Pyrrhus they might just as well kill themselves!

Both me and the Romans seem to want some calm. No movement happens, except one: the Mamertines decide today is a good day for a walk, cross the strait and besiege Rhegium! I doubt the y will have much success taking it however as they have no fleet to blockade the port and no siege engines and only a small army. I could send Pyrrhus to defeat them but I rather leave Pyrrhus in Metapontum for now. His army already regained a lot of strength, it's now at 3000 strength again (was close to 4000 before the attack). Unfortunately I am a bit short on money and replacements.
In Sicily, Ptolemeos is still unactivated...

Turn 52: 277 BC, June

Nothing significant to report. Pyrrhus' army has a strength of 3300 now and Ptolemeos is still unactivated. Damn!

Turn 53: 277 BC, July

Nothing happened again. But something will happen soon: Ptolemeos is finally activated! The Carthaginians will have to say their prayers... I have no doubt that I will win this, I have superiority in numbers, it's clear terrain and Ptolemeos has a 5 attack skill! If I would lose it however, then I would have to move against the Romans or lose by Victory Points!

Turn 54: 277 BC, August

Great news reach Pyrrhus from Sicily: his son has defeated the Carthaginians decisively.
The army was really a lot, a LOT smaller than I anticipated. Would have expected a lot bigger army. Either way, i certainly won't complain. This victory gave me a nice +3 National Morale boost and a +30 Victory Points boost. If the Romans want to win this war (by VP), they will have to defeat Pyrrhus. There is propably no other way for them anymore! Which is great news because with all due respect to the Roman fighting prowess, Pyrrhus is undefeatable for them if Pyrrhus can choose the terrain the battle will be fought on!

Great news reach me from Sicily yet again! After only one month siege, the garrison of Acragas surrendered and it is mine again. This means I get 18 VP/turn now (Romans get 20).
Ptolemeos will move to Carthage next and then... yes, you propably know already what will happen next! He will join up with his father and then either form an even more undefeatable super-army of doom to attack the Romans or keep split up so Metapontum can be defended even while Pyrrhus advances again. Either way, the days of Roman victories are over.
Speaking of that, the Romans seem to feel a bit neglected. They assaulted Grumentum:
and yet again, Pyrrhus is standing face to face with the Romans with neither side wanting to attack.
But I am sure Ptolemeos will change that situation in my favor!

Turn 56: 277 BC, October

Nothing significant to report. I redecided though: Ptolemeos will stay in Sicily and besiege Messana. The fall of Messana would give me some nice additional VP.
The important thing is now what the Romans do – after all, if they do nothing... I win! A minor victory only, but a victory nevertheless! So they can't stay idle forever.

Turn 57: 277 BC, November

Ptolemeos is now besieging Messana.
The Romans in Italy have moved back to Maleventum. I would love to assault Venusia but Pyrrhis is unactivated this turn... just perfect! Apart from that, I have too few money for any replacements so I rather not battle the Romans right now.

Congratulations on your Pyrrhic victory in Italy, but even more so on your "Ptolemeon" victory in Sicily! I think you might conquer Rome through Sicily . . . it will be a close game, but your strategy of winning first on the secondary front seems to be paying off.

It was a relief to finally have a more or less Pyrrhic victory in this game.. after all, what would a Pyrrhus game be - without a single Pyrrhic victory?!?

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Turn 58: 277 BC, December

Not much movement this turn, neither the Carthaginians nor the Romans want to risk losing a battle against my mighty armies!
In Italy, I don't want to advance right now. Also, my soldiers don't want to march through rain.
I don't really know what rain actually does but I know that I lost the last battle in rain and I'd rather not try again. I also don't have any money for replacements and I am sure the Romans do have a lot of money reserves!
In Sicily, the mercenaries broke out of Messana. They took a 246 men casualties:
I can't really say I feel victorious, after all the mercenaries are now out of their fort!
I have assembled a little "task force" that will take care of these pesky mercenaries:

Turn 59: 277 BC, January

One year remaining in this epic conflict!
The detachment of Ptolemeos' army routed the Messinian mercenaries:
In Italy, the Romans are still idle in Maleventum. The victory over the mercenaries has given me some additional VP, I have now 1218. The Romans have 29 less. The Romans are in the process of a large-scale urban improvement program which nets them some VP, it might be that they think they can get a VP victory through that. But I very highly doubt that they can win like that because I still have a lot of Carthaginians to beat for VP in Sicily!
I also expect Messana to fall soon, this will net me some additional VP's.
So: if the Romans want to still win this, they have to move!
Time for some strategizing:
Since the Romans know that they can't win against Pyrrhus as the attackers, they will have to move into a position where Pyrrhus has to attack. Which is why I will not stay in Metapontum. Why? Well, let me explain you with this screenshot:
There's four possible targets for the Romans. Taras and Metapontum can't be assaulted immediately and a counter-attack in clear terrain is my wish so I doubt the Romans will move there anyway. That leaves Paestum and Hipontum. Besieging Paestum would be foolish for them because in the meantime I would be able to retake Venusia and Maleventum, costing them even more VP. That means the only real target for the Romans in Hipontum. And by moving into the neighbouring province I can block that route as well!

Mago. Is. Back. What? I would have imagined him to be crucified in Carthage by now but apparently he just didn't tell them or the Carthaginian senate had a very kind day:
Either way, he is back! And that's not good, not good at all. Losing Agrigentum would be a huge dent in my Victory Points and I can't let that happen.
I will only leave the Syracusaen's Gallic mercenaries besieging Messana, the rest of my Sicilian forces will move to Camarina near Acragas and prepare for battle! Acragas only has to hold out this one turn, a counter-attack on clear terrain and with much greater numbers should be no problem at all regardless of whether Ptolemeos will be activated or not.
In Italy, Pyrrhus has taken up position in the countryside near Metapontum as planned. The Romans are still in Maleventum, I suppose they are waiting for the next consul next month.

Turn 61: 277 BC, March

With new money in the war chest and seemingly every advantage on his side, Pyrrhus can relax in the Italian countryside waiting for the Romans to do something. As of yet they are still in Metapontum. Will they ever move? Or do they rather want to avoid any decisive battle until the very last turn?
In Sicily, Ptolemeos is (of course) unactivated this turn... but that's no excuse!
Mago's army should be very weak anyway, so the attack goes as scheduled. The Gallic mercenaries that were besieging Messana have fought two few small skirmishes with the troops that sallied from Messana, both ended with a draw and minor casualties. Because I don't want to risk a defeat, even if only such a tiny one, the siege is broken yet again and the Gallic mercenaries retreat. My fleet will also move back to Syracuse, I am still scared that the Carthaginians will attack with their fleet!

The Carthaginians get wrecked:
This gives me a 55 VP advantage now. Should be more than enough to get me over the remaining 9 turns. Romans still do – nothing. I'm getting worried slowly.

Turn 63: 277 BC, May

In Sicily, Ptolemeos will advance to besiege Lilybaeum and hopefully defeat the Carthaginians again for some juicy VP!
In Italy, Metapontum is besieged... by Roman cavalry:
Pyrrhus will move to Metapontum, but I doubt he will be able to engage them. Pyrrhus' supplies are getting a bit short so I have to move back anyway.

Turn 64: 278 BC, April

Ptolemeos swept away the Carthaginians near Lilybaeum and is now laying siege to this important Sicilian fort.
Ptolemeos is now a (3-6-5) general, that means a better attacker than his father!
As expected, the Roman cavalry retreated before any battle happened in Metapontum.
The Romans meanwhile also fought... defenseless merchants! My Adriatic trade fleet is no more, not that I really care anymore.

No movement at all. 6 months remaining, the pressure is still on the Romans! I suppose what they will try to do is assault Hipontum and Croton at the last turn hoping that this gives them enough VP for the victory. Which is why after next turn, when I will hopefully have enough supplies again, I will block that route again.

Turn 66: 278 BC, June

So... that just happened:
And Pyrrhus is back in his home country, leaving me with a very difficult situation in Italy: under Pyrrhus the army had a strength of almost 4000, with him gone one of his officers, Megacles (2-3-4), has taken command but he is only a 2-star general and with the 15 % command penalty the army has a strength of only 2500 now! I think this shows very obviously how important a good general is in this game: not a single man other than Pyrrhus left the army and it lost nearly 40 % of its fighting power!
I am very sure the Romans will use this opportunity – and I really can't blame them for it – so this is what I will do in the hope to prevent a major military defeat:

Turn 67: 278 BC, July

As expected, the Romans have taken the chance to advance. They did however avoid Metapontum and went instead for Hipontum (which is what I assumed they would do if you remember).
They have not assaulted it yet, I assume they didn't want to take the risk of being in assault posture in case I would move there. I also doubt that they will assault it next turn, again for that reason.
I would assume that they will either simply stay in Hipontum expecting me to attack them or assault Locri instead. They have to expect that I will stay in Croton which is why I think (hope!) they will not move there. Both Milon and Ptolemeos will thus move to Locri. I won't be able to combine their armies, but I will be able to take the best men under the command of Ptolemeos and hopefully defeat the Romans.

Turns out the Romans did take the risk of assaulting Hipontum:
I won't really miss these troops, but I do mourn the loss of National Morale and Victory Points! The Romans now have 1432 VP, I have 1440... that means, it will propably all boil down to one final epic battle... just this time Ptolemeos, Pyrrhus' son, will lead the Epirote alliance.
Ptolemeos will lead the main army, composed more or less exactly like Pyrrhus' former army, against the Romans while Milon will assault Venusia with the forces from Sicily. They don't have full cohesion so I don't want them to battle the Romans themselves, but I think they shouldn't have any problems taking Venusia and Maleventum back – netting me some additional VP that might just turn out decisive!
But really, all the pressure is on Ptolemeos right now. I do not envy him, his father just bailed and left him in Italy! But he is a great offensive general with an offensive skill of 6 – better than Pyrrhus himself, so I have confidence in him.

Turn 69: 278 BC, September

As expected, Ptolemeos won the battle for Hipontum:
Unfortunately, Milon was not so lucky. His assault went out of power after some initial gains:
I have no idea where the Romans are, they seem to have retreated at least back to Capua...
Milon's army is very weak now but it will still continue the assault on Venusia while Ptolemeos' army will also move to Venusia in case the Romans counter-attack.
For some reason the Romans have more VP than me now! (they have 1476, I have 1474) I don'1485 know why, there is nothing that tells me how they got them. This puts the pressure on me again...

Turn 70: 278 BC, October

Great news! Venusia surrendered without a fight. The Romans took the "bait" and attacked Milon:
That's not so great news by itself, but this "defeat" was very small while my counter-attack pushed them back again:
(and yes, you are seeing right, it seems Megacles has also seniority 1, the highest possible – same as Ptolemeos – so he takes command instead of the great Ptolemeos... but it doesn't seem to have mattered much)
The Romans are nowhere to be seen again and the next turn should be the last! Which is great, because I got some additional VP because of the surrender and capture of Venusia and the victorious battle! I have 1502 VP now, the Romans have 1485. So, all I will do now is just move into the forts in Venusia and Metapontum. I don't see what the Romans could do now to win this.

The war is over!
The Romans assault Croton and thus... gain the upper hand in Victory Points!
In hindsight, that was a very obvious move and I am should have seen it but... ah well! Sorry, garrison troops who had to die horribly because of me!

The Greater Greek cities could not take the pressure of the seemingly endless war anymore and made peace with Rome! In the following negotiations Rome has the upper hand with their seemingly endless manpower, but they still agree to let the Greater Greek cities keep a lot of autonomy.
In Sicily, Syracuse has, with the help of the Epirotes, asserted its dominance over the Carthaginians and pushed them further back into the Western part of Sicily.

(The Victory determination is not really something you should go by, it seems it has not really received much thought by the scenario designers, as you can see Epirus is actually the uppermost faction on the podestal which is rated by "Total Score" whatever that is.
I think Victory should mostly be determined by territory held and not by victory points.)

This is the strategic situation in Italy and Sicily right now:

Even though both sides were very reluctant to fight and there were only few big battles between the Pyrrhus and the legions, the casualties are still staggering:

155040 Romans and 79050 Carthaginians men were lost in battle against 263100 men of the Epirote faction and its allies.
(Note: it seems attrition losses are not counted in that, the Carthaginians lost at least 50.000 additional men to attrition)

I have 35000 Carthaginian prisoners and 5000 Roman prisoners.

So, there we go. If you read through the whole AAR, congratulations! It has to be very difficult to read my non-native-English Any comments are appreciated!

Next up – you are hopefully all waiting for it:
THE FIRST PUNIC WAR
264 – 240 BC – 284 turns!